Yemen Al Qaeda group denies that airstrikes killed its leader

A Yemen-based militant group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), on Monday denied that airstrikes ordered by the Yemeni government last week had killed its chief Qassim al-Raimi, along with five other top militants.

Last week, the Yemeni government had declared open war on the militant group and announced on Friday the death of the militants in airstrikes. If those strikes did fail to hit their targets, it could weaken Yemen's stance that it can tackle the militant threat posed by Al Qaeda without any foreign intervention. In response, Yemen’s interior ministry has promised more airstrikes against Al Qaeda militants in the country.

Meanwhile, on Monday, security forces in Yemen also reported the capture of AQAP second-in-command, Saeed al-Shehri.

Shehri’s capture is an important development in Yemen’s latest crackdown against AQAP militants. On Sunday, Yemen’s chief of central security warned the country’s tribes of dire consequences – without specifying what those might be – if they harbored Al Qaeda militants, reports Agence France-Presse.